The oldest written reference to the territory now
known as Eritrea is the chronicled expedition launched
to the fabled Punt (or Ta Netjeru, meaning land of the
Gods) by the Ancient Egyptians in the twenty-fifth
century BC under Pharaoh Sahure. Later sources
from the Pharaoh Hatshepsut in the fifteenth
century BC present a more detailed portrayal of
an expedition in search of incense. The geographical
location of the missions to Punt is described as
roughly corresponding to the southern west coast of
the Red Sea. The name Eritrea is a rendition of the
ancient Greek name Erythraía, the "Red
Land".

Pre-history

One of the oldest hominids, representing a possible
link between Homo erectus and an archaic Homo sapiens,
was found in Buya (Eritrean Danakil) in 1995 by
Italian scientists. The cranium was dated to over 1
million years old.[5] Furthermore, in 1999,
the Eritrean Research Project Team, composed of
Eritrean, Canadian, American, Dutch, and French
scientists, discovered some of the earliest remains of
humans using tools to harvest marine resources, at a
site near the bay of Zula, south of Massawa. The site
contained obsidian tools dated to the paleolithic era,
over 125,000 years old.[6] Epipaleolithic or
mesolithic cave paintings in central and northern
Eritrea attest to early hunter-gatherers in this
region.

A US paleontologist, William Sanders of the
University of Michigan, also discovered a possible
missing link between ancient and modern elephants in
the form of the fossilized remains of a pig-sized
creature in Eritrea. Sanders claims that the dating of
the fossil to 27 million years ago pushes the origins
of elephants and mastodons five million years further
into the past than previously recorded, and asserts
that modern elephants originated in Africa, in
contrast to mammals such as rhinos that had their
origins in Europe and Asia and then migrated into
Africa. In addition to Sanders, the research team
included scientists from the Elephant Research
Foundation of Wayne State University in Michigan, USA,
University of Asmara in Eritrea; Franklin and Marshall
College in Lancaster, PA, USA; the Eritrean ministry
of mines and energy; Global Resources in Asmara,
Eritrea; the Muséum national d'histoire
naturelle in Paris; the National Museum of Eritrea;
and German Primate Center in Göttingen,
Germany.

Early history

The earliest evidence of agriculture, urban
settlement and trade in Eritrea was found in the
western region of the country consisting of
archeological remains dating back to 3500 BC in sites
called the Gash group. Based on the archaeological
evidence, there seems to have been a connection
between the peoples of the Gash group and the
civilizations of the Nile Valley namely Ancient Egypt
and Nubia.[7] Ancient Egyptian sources also
give references to cities and trading posts along the
southwestern Red Sea coast, roughly corresponding to
modern day Eritrea, calling this "the land of Punt,"
famed for its incense.

In the highlands, in the capital city Asmara's
suburbs, scores of ancient sites have been documented,
including Sembel, Mai Chiot, Ona Gudo, Mai Temenai,
Weki Duba, and Mai Hutsa. Mostly dating to the early
and mid-1st millennium BCE (800 to 350 BCE), these
communities consisted of small towns, villages, and
hamlets built of stone. People practiced a mixed
economy of pastoralism and grain agriculture, but
little evidence for trade with the outside world has
been found. The proximity of these ancient communities
to gold mines suggest that part of their prosperity
was linked to the mining and processing of gold.
Around the mid-1st millennium, several sites with
Sabaean remains (inscriptions, artifacts, monuments,
etc.) seem to emerge in the central highlands, for
example, at Keskese. There is evidence at Keskese that
older remains, similar to those around Asmara, are
present. The Sabaean remains, however, are not
accompanied by evidence for residence of people from
that southern Arabian kingdom. It appears to
archaeologists that these remains represent the growth
of local elites who appropriated powerful symbols from
Saba in their quest for legitimacy.[8]